THE WHITE VOLTA SUB-BASIN - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 21

and management of those resources and the coordination of policies related
to them. The Forestry Commission is also a stakeholder in water resources
management because of the importance of forest belts in erosion control and
the micro-climatic hydrological impact.
Lands Commission: The Lands Commission was established by the Lands
Commission Act of Parliament 1994 (Act 483) to manage public lands
efficiently through proper documentation and good records keeping. In
general, agricultural land has not been registered in the White Volta sub-
basin of Ghana by individual farmers, except for large-scale commercial
farming enterprises. MOFA has been pursuing the approach to register the
land resources to be irrigated by small-scale irrigation schemes in the name
of the District Assemblies (Birner et al., 2005).
Department of co-operatives and community development: The Department
of Co-operatives is a government agency charged with the administration of
the Co-operative Societies Decree NLCD 252 of 1968. The main statutory
functions include:
1. Registration of groups into Co-operative Societies
2. Audit and inspection of Co-operative Societies
3. Arbitration of disputes among Co-operative Societies
4. Liquidation of Co-operative Societies
The department exists to facilitate the development of Co-operatives and
Farmer-Based Organizations that are capable of contributing positively to
sustainable employment generation and agricultural growth, poverty
reduction and community development through capacity building, policy
implementation, monitoring, evaluation and regulation through farmer
groups. The department of co-operatives is also responsible for organizing
water user associations and farmer groups.
Data Collection and Research Institutions
Hydrological Service Department and Ghana Meteorological Agency : The
Hydrological Services Department is the government agency responsible for
hydrological data collection and has regional branches across the country.
They collect data mainly on surface water but not groundwater. They do not
collect information on surface water quality. They are involved in flood
assessments and advise government on technical mitigation measures.
The Ghana Meteorological Agency is the government agency responsible for
climate data collection and also has regional branches within the country. It
maintains a network of meteorological measuring stations all over the